From the Richmond Dispatch, 5/19/1862, p. 1, c. 2

THE
WAR.

There was a general failure of the mails on
Friday and Saturday, and we consequently received but few of our
Southern exchanges. From the means at hand, we compile the following
summary, which will be found interesting:

THE
GUNBOAT FIGHT AT DRURY’S BLUFF.

The Petersburg Express, of Friday, has
some further particulars of the fight at Drury’s Bluff, which we
copy:

The fight at Fort Drury yesterday, on James
river, (Chesterfield side,) was quite an exciting affair, and we
have good grounds for believing resulted in a decided repulse to the
Lincoln gunboats. A gentleman who was present informs us that the
approach of the Federals was first discovered by our pickets about
daylight. The fighting was commenced at half-past seven, and
continued without intermission until eleven, when the gunboats,
entirely satisfied, retired rapidly down the river. The Galena, an
iron clad, but not so formidable as the Monitor, was the only vessel
engaged, although the Monitor and three gunboats were present. The
enemy fired very rapidly, and did some execution in and around the
fort, but many of the shells went far beyond the works, some of them
exploding a mile distant, and others bursted over the turnpike. The
Galena was placed hors du combat by a plunging shot, which
entered her upper deck, ranging downwards, and setting her on fire.
She proceeded a mile or so down the river, when she was run into
shallow water and sunk, to save her from total destruction by fire.

A shot from one of our rifled guns cut a small
boat in twain, which was swinging from the side of one of the wooden
vessels, and sent two men which it contained to the bottom.

As the fleet moved off, our sharpshooters, who
lined the banks of the river for three or four miles, poured their
deadly missiles into every port-hole and at every pilot-house. – One
pilot was certainly killed, as he was seen to fall at the crack of a
sharpshooter’s rifle. Other of the invaders, it is thought, were
sent to their final account. The high bluff, thickly covered with
undergrowth, afford admirable protection for sharpshooters, and the
number, we hear, is to be greatly increased.

The casualties on our side were five killed and
eight wounded. We have ascertained the following:

Bowyer’s battery, from Botetourt county, lost
one man killed – George Clements – and three wounded.

Jones’s battery, Bedford county, two men
killed.

Sales’ (Bedford) Battery, two men killed. –
Captain Sales was slightly wounded in the arm.

Our informant saw a mule which was dreadfully
mangled and killed, more than a quarter of a mile from the Fort, by
the explosion of a shell. The animal had three legs cut off, and its
side was torn out.

It is the opinion of several who were present
at the bombardment, that the enemy will make another attempt to
silence our guns at Fort Drury, and that when he next comes, it will
be with mortar boats. The bluffs are too much elevated for his
gunboats to do much execution.

We are pleased to learn that the best spirits
pervade our men, and that they are determined to make Old Abe’s “on
to Richmond” by water as difficult as have been his efforts to reach
our glorious capital on terra firma.